Riley Adams's Blog, page 94

January 28, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Twitterific writing links are fed into the Writer’s Knowledge Base search engine (developed by writer and software engineer Mike Fleming) which has over 39,000 free articles on writing related topics. It’s the search engine for writers.

Business / Miscellaneous

Freelance writers @jessicahische

Conferences and Events / Miscellaneous

Colombia’s Hay Festival Cartagena de Indias Opens This Week @cfuenteslaroche

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

Top 10 Mistakes Derailing Your Goals [Podcast] @MichaelHyatt

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

9 Simple Activities To Inspire Your Writing: by Emma Johnson

3 Ways a Writer Inadvertently Limited Her Writing @rsmollisonread

3 Writing Prompts to Tap Into Your Creative Well @write_practice

Creativity and Inspiration / Motivation

When you’re your own boss, you’re in charge of your own morale @StephMorrill

Creativity and Inspiration / Perfectionism

A Tip to Sneak Past Perfection @WritetoDone

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Using Habits,Triggers & Rewards To Build a Daily Writing Practice @SukhiJutla

Writing when it’s hectic @WendyENThomas

6 Words Every Writer Should Avoid @RJThesman

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / When to write

8 Writerly Routines @j_r_fahy_tweets

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Finding Your Story, or How to Get out of the Dark Wood When You’re Lost @KAMcCleary

3 Quick Tips to Start Writing Again @LisaTener

How to Avoid the Post-Writing-Challenge Slump @NinaAmir

Exploit Your Vulnerabilities to Finally Complete Your Book @jan_ohara

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

3 Ways to Improve Your Writer’s Focus and Get More Done @colleen_m_story

5 Strategies to Help Writers Get the Writing Done @JennyBravoBooks

Creativity and Inspiration / Success

“The Tragedy I See At Starbucks Every Day” @storyfix

How to improve your the quality of your work @pubcoach

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

Writing as Aggression @lithub by Emily Temple

Why Books Have Margins (And So Should You) @JanalynVoigt

Reading and Writing in the Age of Social Media @MTW_2017

Your Never Ending Writing Improvement Program @jamesscottbell

12 New Year’s Resolutions for Introverts @livequiet

9 Questions Writers Love to be Asked @AnnieNeugebauer

Why Your Chair Makes a Difference @SeanPlatt

Genres / Miscellaneous

Include Romance In Your Book or Screenplay @patverducci

Genres / Historical

Writing Historical Fiction @GoTeenWriters

Genres / Memoir

Writing Memoir? Think Outside the Book @annerallen

Genres / Middle-Grade

The Difference Between Young Adult and Middle Grade @RuthanneReid

Genres / Mystery

Crime Writing @LeeLofland

Genres / Picture Books

The Dos and Don’ts of Writing for Children @RMFWriters

Genres / Poetry

How Do We Pay the Poets? @amandanadelberg

How to Keep Poetry Alive @tspoetry

4 Poetry Chapbook Strategies @WritersDigest

Genres / Romance

Romance Writing @jcharroway

Romance Sub-genres @RMFWriters

Promo / Miscellaneous

Top 10 Ways Marketing Your Books Is Like Exploring A Jungle @10MinNovelists

Author Promo Tips with @Mark_Gottlieb from @Trident_Media @TheIWSG

Book Marketing @cksyme

Promo / Blogging

3 Tips to Title Your Blog Post and Draw Readers In @Margo_L_Dill

Improving Your Writing with an SEO Plugin @MarshaIngrao

4 Ways to Choose a Blog Topic Your Readers Will Love @woodwardkaren

Promo / Book Descriptions and Copywriting

Mind Map Your Way to the Perfect Book Title @Writerology

Promo / Book Reviews

How the NY Times Book Review Works @lithub

The Zen of Accepting Bad Reviews @Artzicarol

How Book Reviewing Can Influence Writing @WomenWriters

Promo / Newsletters

Email Marketing 101 for Authors @timgrahl

Promo / Podcasts

The Ultimate Guide to Podcasting for Authors and Creatives @audracasino

Publishing / Miscellaneous

6 lessons from debuting a novel @Ava_Jae

6 skills for authors to hone @ShanDitty

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Cambridge University Press @Porter_Anderson

Industry Changes @Porter_Anderson

A Spanish-Language Social Network for Book Fans @pubperspectives

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

Self-Publishing vs Traditional Publishing @ReedsyHQ

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Rejections

Author Michael Alvear with 4 ways to be resilient in the face of rejection:

Publishing / Process / Translation

On Translating Kafka’s Biography @DennisAbrams2

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

4 reasons to use a time warp in your story @Chris_Kokoski

The Best Place In Your Novel To Put Your Personal Beliefs @Chris_Kokoski

Are Paper Notebooks Better for Creative Writing and Brainstorming? @WritingForward

3 Ways to Make Your Writing Come Alive @Janice_Hardy

How to Create Cause and Effect in Stories @plotwhisperer

How to Use Internal Dialogue Effectively in Your Fiction @ESimsAuthor

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Real Life Diagnostics @Janice_Hardy

On meeting characters and making impressions @DamonSuede

How To Hook Your Readers From The Start @DionneMcCulloch

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Five Characters Who Endure Too Much Degradation @mythcreants

What Is Your Character’s Cornerstone? @knitteditor

Writing Craft / Diversity

Rosarium’s Faces of Diverse Publishing @RosariumBill

What Counts As Transgender Literature? @GabbyBellot @lithub

Writing Craft / Drafts

The Secret to Writing a Usable Draft @JeffGoins

What a Novel Looks Like Before It’s a Novel @lithub

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Write Effective Endings @pronoun

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

What ‘Westworld’ Can Teach Us About Writers @LitReactor

8 Books About First Contacts and Alien Encounters @TobiasCarroll

Story Structure Case Study of “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” @kylieday0

Checklist Road Test @CockeyedCaravan

How To Write Like Leonardo da Vinci @rxena77

How We Write About Work, Then and Now @lithub

5 Times We Earthlings Messed Up a Fantasy World @tordotcom

Writing Craft / POV

Writing Dual Narratives @ClaireFuller2

Writing Craft / Pre-Writing / Plotting

3 Reasons to Write Your Story as Roman à Clef @McgannKellie

Plot Your Novel with Drama, Depth and Heart [Podcast] @lornafaith @Roz_Morris

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites @WordSnooper

Writing Craft / Revision

10 Sentence-Level Mistakes to Watch Out for When Editing Your Fiction @aliventures

Editing Your Zero Draft @woodwardkaren

Storyboarding – Not Just for Plotting Anymore @joanswan

5 Things to Consider During the Revision Process @LoucindaMcGary

100 Editing and Proofreading Tips for Writers: from Expert Editor

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

When to Ignore Negative Feedback @tonya_writes

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

How to Describe Setting (Without Putting Your Reader to Sleep) @JerryBJenkins

Writing Craft / Tension

Creating Conflict in Novels @kayelleallen

A Surefire Way to Add Conflict to Your Story @Janice_Hardy

Writing Craft / Tropes

Tropes in Literature: Conveniently an Orphan: by Melinda Brasher

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

How To Be A Smart Author in 2017 @sacha_black

Writing Tools / Apps

Scrivener and The Book Architecture Method @Book_Arch

Writing Tools / Resources

Free writing manual from @BubbleCow @GarySmailes

From My Blog

Twitterific Writing Links – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig A weekly roundup of the best writing links …

Process @elizabethscraig Some of my more po…

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 28, 2017 21:02

January 26, 2017

Process: Finishing One Book While Starting Another

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Some of my more popular posts have to do with something pretty ordinary and (unfortunately) boring … process.

Everyone’s process for writing and publishing books is different. Maybe that’s why we’re curious about what works for other writers. I know I like reading those types of posts, too. I never know when there’s something that might be helpful to try or something that I could work into my own writing process.

Keeping all of that in mind, I thought I’d share my own process for finishing a book and starting another book. It’s fresh in my mind because that’s been my last couple of weeks (some of this I touched on in last Friday’s post).

The process for the book that’s releasing

While the book is in edits, I start loading the book and the book’s metadata up on distributor and retail sites (which can be, if you use a lot of distributors, something of a tedious process).

I draft a newsletter to announce the upcoming release.

I make sure the book is linked to the rest of the series on Amazon and other retail sites.

I update my website, LinkedIn, and Goodreads.

The process for the next book in that series

Whatever book I’ve just finished, I start immediately outlining the next book in that same series. I’ve found this is a big time-saver for me because my head is still in the series. It takes a lot less time to create situations for the characters to respond to, etc.

The outline is nothing fancy. This is my template for it:

Title

Back Cover Copy

Victim #1

Weapon Used

Suspects

Second Murder Method

Victim #2

Killer(s)

Red Herrings (false leads)

Subplots/series memes to work in

After 1st murder: Interviews

Suspect 1 interviewed…suspect points to ____, suspect’s alibi: _____, suspect’s lie____, suspect’s truth____

(rest of interviews of 4-5 suspects, same set-up)

After 2nd murder: interviews:

(Same set-up as before, with added opportunity to defend/explain any false alibis from 1st murder)

Moment of danger:

Clues that pointed to killer:

As you can imagine, filling out something like this is less daunting than a blow-by-blow outline. And yet this was acceptable to Penguin back in the day, too, so there was enough meat there, too to satisfy their requirements (their review of my outlines was in my contracts).

I write the back cover copy for the book I’m outlining. As you can imagine, it’s fairly vague, but with cozy mysteries, this is not a problem.

I commission a cover during this time from my cover designer. Not only have I learned that it’s best to get covers early, it helps me to visualize the project and stay on track better.

I register the ISBNs for print, Kindle, and epub versions on Bowker for the project (which will, technically, be completed after I write a book in the other series I work on).

I upload the new cover and cover copy to my website on the ‘Coming Soon‘ page.

Once I’m finished with the outline, I move right on to write the next book (which, in my case, is always with the other series I’m writing–the one I’d have already outlined after finishing a story in that series). This may sound more confusing than it actually is.

What’s your process like with finishing a project and starting another? Mine is pretty rushed with not much room for celebration (the downside), although it’s easy enough to be automatic by now. Do you have more of a time buffer? What works best for you?

Finishing one project while starting another: the process:
Click To Tweet

Photo credit: Jamie Zeschke via Visual Hunt / CC BY

The post Process: Finishing One Book While Starting Another appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 26, 2017 21:02

January 22, 2017

Publishing’s Dirty Little Secret: The Rejections Never Stop

Picture shows a tidy desk with a computer and a cup of coffee in front of a window with the post title Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 22, 2017 21:02

January 21, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

Bluebird with beak open and 'Twitterific Writing Links' by ElizabethSCraig superimposed on the image

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

I did have a new book release Tuesday. :) Find out more about Fall to Pieces here.

Business / Miscellaneous

Make Wise Investments In Your Author Business @cksyme

Why More Writers Should Talk About Money @manjulamartin

Creativity and Inspiration / Miscellaneous

Creative Lessons Learned From Podcasting Since 2009 @thecreativepenn

Writing Skills @KarenCV

Creativity and Inspiration / Goal setting

Choosing a One-Word Theme for Your 2017 @RoniLoren

Creativity and Inspiration / Inspiration

How to Avoid Sabotaging Your Creative Process @amcarley

How To Always Have Something Awesome To Write About @ThePaigeDuke

Why Focusing on the Present Can Make You More Creative @livequiet

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

Tracking your activities for increased productivity @Write_Track

5 ways to make time to write when you’ve got a busy family @jasonbougger

3 Ways To Change Your Thinking About Writing Time and Productivity @rsmollisonread

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

5 Reasons to Thank Your Resistance to Writing @RosanneBane

5 Steps for Getting Out of a Creative Rut @EJWenstrom

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

A Method to Manage Writing Projects @jkwak

5 Weird Ways to Get Yourself Writing @DIYMFA

6 Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Writer Without Burning Out @jenlouden

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

5 Tips For When You Have Too Much to Do @zen_habits

6 Packing Tips for Writers Who Want to Hit the Road @Kristen_E_Pope

5 Ways to Combat Author Anxiety @WritersDigest

7 Thoughts For Writers Struggling With Depression @RebekahGyger

Why to Keep Your Day Job After Becoming a Best-selling Author from @johngreen @GoinsWriter

Into the Writing Vortex with Jo March & Louisa May Alcott, 1869 @2nerdyhistgirls

Writing Friends and Where to Find Them @besscozby

How Do You Want Your Novel to Change the World? @jmunroemartin

How To Get Your Partner To Support Your Writing @standoutbooks

Genres / Miscellaneous

5 Reasons Genre Matters @MarcyKennedy

Genres / Fantasy

On Thud and Blunder in Heroic Fantasy: by Poul Anderson

5 Horrifying Monsters That Aren’t Vampires, Zombies or Werewolves @repokempt

Genres / Historical

Balance Fact and Fiction When Writing Historical Novels: by Jack Woodville London

Genres / Horror

5 Books About Human Horror @jarockauthor

Genres / Mystery

Insomniacs in crime fiction @mkinberg

How Safe Is Your Character? @JacquiAnnWard

Genres / Picture Books

Tech Tools to Help Produce & Sell Children’s Books @carlaking

Genres / Poetry

A Self-Published Poet’s Path to Her First Book Deal @JaneFriedman with Amanda Lovelace

Genres / Young Adult

4 Tips on Creating Pitch Perfect YA Characters @AmyFosterHere

5 Key Ingredients All YA Novels Must Have @katiemccoach

Promo / Miscellaneous

What not to wear on TV @pubcoach

Promo / Ads

How To Get Your Sales Moving With Facebook Ads @davidpenny_

Promo / Blogging

8 Ideas for Adding Additional Content to Your Blog @NonfictionAssoc

5 Free Tools to Improve Your Blog @KarenBanes

How to Use Your Blog as an Author Platform @SukhiJutla

Promo / Newsletters

Why You Need a Newsletter @AP_Fuchs

Promo / Websites

Make Your Website Interactive to Gain New Readers @EbooksAndKids

Publishing / Miscellaneous

The Hard Truth About Publishing—What Writers & Readers Need to Know @KristenLambTX

3 Things One Debut Writer Wishes She’d Known @LizbethMeredith

Publishing / News / Data

Record Number of Libraries Surpass 1,000,000 eBook and Audiobook Checkouts in 2016 @OverDriveLibs

Publishing / News / International Publishing

What Canada’s Shelfie Data Suggests About Ebook Subscriptions @HudPeter

Firebrand Buys Canada’s Enthrill, HarperCollins Withdraws Crowley Book @Porter_Anderson

Publishing Partnerships @Porter_Anderson

An English Translation of a Japanese TV Series Based on a Swedish Book @Porter_Anderson

Growing Russian Market Looks to Educational and Children’s Books in 2017 by Eugene Gerden @pubperspectives

DBW 2017 Opening Themes @Porter_Anderson

Publishing / Options / Self-Publishing

9 Steps to Self-Publish Your Print Book Using CreateSpace @lornafaith

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

An agent on how far she reads into a manuscript @Janet_Reid

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

How to Write a Query Letter to an Agent @KellyDSmith

Publishing / Process / Book Design

Master Your Genre’s Book Cover @sacha_black

Publishing / Process / Distribution

Q&A with Pronoun @pronoun

Publishing / Process / Legalities

Rights Management @Porter_Anderson

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

4 Essential Mind Tricks for Writing to Persuade @jeffelk

How to Write a Great Story @JaneFriedman

Storytelling @woodwardkaren

Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel @djwilliams316

How to Make “Write What You Know” Work for You @krisriggle

10 Rules of Writing @patverducci

Advanced Craft Tips @PBRWriter

Weak Verbs are the Path to the Dark Side @p2p_editor

Using Mentor Texts With Students @MelanieMeehan1

How To Tailor A Story To Readers @woodwardkaren

Writing Craft / Beginnings

4 ways not to start a novel @jasonbougger

Writing Craft / Characters / Antagonists

3 Essential Factors to Make Your Villain 3D @RuthanneReid

Writing Killer Descriptions – First Impressions @mythicscribes

10 Ways To Create Dangerously Nuanced Antagonists @Writers_Write

Writing Craft / Characters / Arc

How Character Attributes and Flaws Work Within Character Arc @AngelaAckerman

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

Create a Character Readers Can’t Help But Care About @woodwardkaren

The Why & How of Character Motivation @mythcreants

8 Key Female Archetypes to Consider for Your Novel @CSLakin

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

6 Subversive Heroes for Stand Out Stories @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Dialogue

Overusing Names in Dialogue @MarcyKennedy

Writing Craft / Lessons from Books and Film

6 Best Cocktails From Classic Literature @ElectricLit

10 Neo-Noir Films to Influence Your Fiction @wickerkat

Writing Craft / POV

Writing Through a Character’s Eyes @NovelEditor

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

5 Necessary Comma Uses @lisajlickel

Writing Craft / Revision

How to Streamline Your Editing Experience @MissConstance21

14 Words That Are Hurting Your Writing @Janice_Hardy

19 Self-editing Tips @WordDreams

Writing Craft / Revisions / Critiques

5 Steps To Hiring A Freelance Editor @espressoeditor

3 Ways Your Beta Readers Are Right (and Oh-So-Wrong!) @KelsieEngen

Writing Craft / Scenes

How to Write a Perfect Scene @CSLakin

Writing Craft / Settings and Description

How Novelists Can Infuse Their Scenes with Color @CSLakin

Four Dimensional Settings: by Shawn Coyne

Writing Craft / Voice

How Finding Your Voice Can Inspire New Novels @SWilliamsAuthor

Writing Tools / Miscellaneous

Describing Words Finds Adjectives For the Noun You’re Writing About @LordRavenscraft

Writing Tools / Apps

How to Learn Scrivener Fast @lornafaith

20 Apps for Writers Who Want to Get Serious @ChristelleWrite

From My Blog:

Expanding Book Distribution – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig When I wrote a post in October on growing…

Creative Challenges for Better Productivity – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig Sometimes I think that we…

Twitterific Writing Links – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig A weekly roundup of the best writing links …

Another Go at Pre-Orders – by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig This is my third post on pre-orders. As you …

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 21, 2017 21:01

January 19, 2017

Another Go at Pre-Orders

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

This is my third post on pre-orders. As you might remember, I wasn’t much of a fan of them when I tried them (over much of 2016).

This time I decided not to run a long-term pre-order.

I didn’t like the pressure of feeling like I was under the gun to deliver. It’s been a while since I wrote for a traditional publisher and maybe I’ve gotten used to my deadlines getting softer.

This time I waited for my book to be finished and then put it up for a very short pre-order while the book was being edited (knowing I had plenty of time to finish my edits before uploading the final version).

I put the book up on both Amazon and Draft2Digital’s retailers (some of which are set-up for pre-orders, some aren’t) on January 2 for a January 17 release. I picked a Tuesday, since a lot of traditionally-published cozies are launched on Tuesdays and many savvy readers have an eye open for releases.

It took a while before I started seeing any sales happening. At first, I had a hard time even finding my book on Amazon. By the 10th, the book was showing at around 50,000 in the best sellers rank, so it was finally being discovered. I’m not sure if Amazon sent any emails to my readers to notify them of the pre-order, but the sales did seem to come at once.

Sales at Draft2Digital retailers, judging from my ranking on the different sites, were also occurring. The D2D dashboard doesn’t reflect pre-order sales but reports them after the release.

Draft2Digital does make the process very easy. You can set pre-orders there without the need to upload a draft (as opposed to Amazon, which doesn’t allow ‘asset-less’ pre-orders). As D2D states: “You can set up pre-orders to nearly all Draft2Digtial store partners as far out as ninety days to a year in advance of your chosen release date. You aren’t even required to have a final manuscript or cover, as long as you upload those things no less than ten days before release. We recommend pre-orders as a way to capture readers’ interest prior to the book’s launch and build up a powerful boost to your sales rank on release day.”

What I did like about the pre-order is the ability to upload everything and then work on getting all the details ironed out….the better-formatted book description, getting the ISBNs worked out, creating a newsletter with active buy-links, deciding on pricing, etc.

Another nice thing was having live links when I finally did announce the release in my newsletter. In the past, I’ve sent newsletters without the print link, since it takes a while longer for printed books to show up live at retailers.

I also like that when the book finally did release, the Amazon page was quickly populated in the ‘customers who bought this also bought’ section, which introduced my book to more readers.

Amazon has a few requirements regarding pre-orders (some of these requirements are new):

There is a minimum amount of time you can schedule a pre-order. So if you were thinking of having a week-long pre-order, that won’t be permitted by Amazon: “Pre-orders must be scheduled 10 or more days (from midnight GMT) before the book is released.”

Pre-orders are available in all Amazon marketplaces (except for India). The books release at midnight in the local time zone.

The deadline for your final version of the manuscript is 3 days before the release. Or, more specifically: “The final version of your manuscript that you want to use for your pre-order eBook must be uploaded and republished at least 3 days before the release date you set, with the last day for upload starting at midnight, GMT. For example, if you were releasing an eBook on September 20, you would need to upload and republish it by 11:59 PM GMT on September 16. To help prevent confusion from time zone to time zone, we’ve added a timer you can follow to see when exactly your book is due. We recommend you use the timer to see the actual deadline.”

For those of us worried that some unforeseen disaster will make our release date impossible, Amazon does now offer an option to reschedule the release. This option is through our KDP bookshelf (click the ellipses under Book Actions). Under ‘Pre-order’, click ‘edit release date.’ Save and submit. Amazon allows this action one time for as much as 30 days past the original launch date.

However, if you cancel the release altogether: “If you choose to cancel the pre-order, you may unpublish your eBook from the Bookshelf. When you unpublish an eBook in pre-order, you will be unable to list any eBook for pre-order for one year.”

This particular go at pre-orders was successful enough (and Amazon’s new flexibility was encouraging enough) for me to plan other short pre-order periods for future releases.

Have you tried out pre-orders? How did it go?

Giving Pre-Orders Another Try:
Click To Tweet

Photo via tookapic via Visual Hunt

The post Another Go at Pre-Orders appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 19, 2017 21:02

January 15, 2017

Common Ground: Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel

by D.J. Williams, @djwilliams316

As an Executive Producer and Director in the TV industry, I understand the difficulty and challenge of transforming a novel into a visual experience on film. As a novelist, I’ve enjoyed the freedom of writing and storytelling without worrying about the limitations of turning those novels into a screenplay. Many of my readers have said, “Your books would make great movies.” I’m humbled each time I hear those words, but I’m also realistic about surviving in an ocean with sharks. Writing a novel and writing a screenplay are two different animals that don’t always play well together in the same body of water. So, if your dream is to write a novel in hopes you’ll get it optioned for film so a studio can spend millions of dollars producing your story, you might find yourself throwing a penny in a pond hoping to retrieve a pot of gold. Let’s just say, the odds are not in your favor. But there are techniques we can use as novelists to transform our stories that share common ground with screenwriters.

In my novels, The Disillusioned and Waking Lazarus, the chapters are written as scenes in a film as a way to keep readers engaged. Since my writing tends to be more visual, much like a screenwriter, I use this technique to keep the story moving forward at a quicker pace. I don’t want to bog readers down with pages of backstory, inner thoughts, or showcasing my writing prowess that leaves them trudging through a swamp. I’m not a literary genius like Tolstoy. I write commercial fiction, and what that means is I must use some of the same techniques as a screenwriter because we live in a visual age. Isn’t that how we want readers to respond? We want them to envision the world we’ve created, to connect with the characters, and to imagine where the story will lead. Our words on a page create a visual experience for our readers.

One huge advantages for novelists is we can take our time delving deeper into our characters’ thoughts and emotions. We can leave breadcrumbs of hidden clues, backstory, and reveal aspects of our characters’ storylines that maybe only the reader will know, most of which would never be played out on screen. And, you do this within a 380+ page book instead of a 120 page screenplay. But there is a downside, one we can avoid when using other screenwriting techniques.

Have you ever noticed how at around the thirty minute mark in a film there is a twist to the story? It’s that moment that leads us into the second act. A character makes a choice, faces a tragedy, or loses what they value most. In that scene the story goes deeper and keeps viewers on the edge of their seat. If we were to call this the thirty-minute rule for screenwriters, then we could define that technique as the crossroads chapter for novelists. While I won’t give away which chapter that might be in my novels, I will say that this chapter marker is a roadmap that leads me to the second act of my story. Why do this? For my writing style, it helps me know that the story is moving forward. I’m not simply writing chapters that bring nothing more to the story. The chapters leading up to the chapter that will remain unnamed, are centered on introducing readers into this world, revealing unique characters, and setting readers up for the plot twist.

In this scenario, the big difference between novels and screenplays is that in a screenplay you should only write what you see or hear on screen. Internal thoughts won’t work. Narration is tricky because it can slow the story down. Novelists can dive deeper into inner thoughts, longer dialogue, and more descriptive settings, but in either scenario, character and setting are still king. By the time you reach the thirty minutes, or the crossroads chapter, your characters and story should be in full affect. If the characters are flat, or the story isn’t progressing quick enough, then you know it’s time to go back and rework your first act.

One note to remember: as novelists we aren’t restricted by production budgets, so if we need to enhance our characters’ setting, or build a bigger more interesting world, then we can simply write that on the page rather than begging a studio to give us a bigger budget. That’s one of the challenges screenwriters have that novelists don’t. Screenwriters have to create a world and characters that fit within the overall production budget of a studio.

In this day and age another technique novelists can learn from screenwriters is to keep our stories concise. Reminders to move the story forward should be planted on our walls, computer screens, notebooks, and tattooed on our arms if necessary. If the story isn’t progressing then we’ll lose our readers. Too much backstory and we’ve lost them. Give too much information away in the beginning and our characters become less interesting. Writing chapters filled with inner thoughts, dream sequences, flashbacks, or sharing pieces of the story that won’t matter in the end forces readers to close the book, unless they are written in a concise way that adds momentum to our story. It’s why screenwriters are constantly cutting, scrutinizing every word of a script, because they only have so many pages to fit the story. Every scene. Every piece of dialogue. Ever word is weighed to make the screenplay as tight as possible. In the end, cutting in a screenplay makes for a better story. For novelists, we can learn a great deal from this technique. While some view editing as the process that is done to finalize the last draft of a novel so we can publish, the truth is that editing is an exercise where we’re constantly fine-tuning each chapter. Much like a screenplay, ruthless cutting/editing makes the novel shine.

While this is by no means all of the screenwriting techniques we can apply as novelists, they are common ground exercises that can enable us to transform our writing to become more effective storytellers.

D.J. Williams: Currently based out of Los Angeles, Williams continues to add to his producing and directing credits of more than 350 episodes of broadcast TV syndicated worldwide by developing new projects for television, film and print.

Waking Lazarus

Jake Harris’ life hasn’t turned out the way he planned. Battling his addictions, and the shattered pieces of his family, he is hired to ghostwrite a memoir. From the 1920’s story of a controversial evangelist, to the present day mystery of a former District Attorney, everything changes when his search for the truth leads to an atrocity hidden from history. With a past he can’t remember, he begins to discover that he is not the person he believed himself to be. Rather, he is a threat to a secret society that has remained in the shadows for nearly a century. Jake is drawn deep inside a world he never knew existed that brings him closer to his own extraordinary destiny.

This latest novel is accompanied by a full soundtrack. Williams has worked alongside composer, Jené Nicole Johnson, to create an enhanced reading experience that has not been done before in book publishing. The soundtrack has been customized to fit readers of all kinds, whether they read fast or slow. It is a groundbreaking addition to the series that is already receiving rave reviews.

Author @djwilliams316 with screenwriting techniques to transform your novel:
Click To Tweet

Photo via Kelly Sikkema via Visualhunt.com

The post Common Ground: Screenwriting Techniques To Transform Your Novel appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 15, 2017 21:01

January 14, 2017

Twitterific Writing Links

Bluebird with beak open and 'Twitterific Writing Links' by ElizabethSCraig superimposed on the image

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

A weekly roundup of the best writing links from around the web.

Business / Miscellaneous

Publishing predictions 2017 by Agent Laurie McLean @annerallen

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Fitting in Writing

9 Ideas To Make Room In Your Life For Writing @GoTeenWriters

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writer’s Block

Getting Past the Dreaded Block @jemifraser

Creativity and Inspiration / Productivity / Writing Quickly

What is the Ideal Book Release Pace for Authors? @EmilyWenstrom

Using Task Batching to be a More Productive Writer @allindiewriters

Creativity and Inspiration / Writing Life

101 Coping Skills for Writers With or Without Mental Illness @heisawolf

When Writing Can’t Be Your Life @GoTeenWriters

How Do I Make Writing a Career? @mariraz @ElectricLit

The best lessons 1 writer has learned @KillerNashville

Escapism Is for Readers; Writers Stay @Porter_Anderson

Genres / Horror

What Happened With George Romero’s Zombies? @JonathanBarkan

Genres / Humor

7 Reasons Writers of Serious Novels Should Use Humor in Their Fiction @WritersDigest

Genres / Memoir

The Micro-Memoir @fiedawn

Genres / Middle-Grade

7 Tips for Writing Middle Grade Voice @ceciliaedits

Writing the Middle Grade Novel @WritersCoach

Genres / Mystery

Crime Writing @LeeLofland

Crime Writers @SueColetta1

Self-deception as an element in crime fiction @mkinberg

Opposites DO Attract @KillerNashville

Crime fiction @mkinberg

Genres / Picture Books

Writing Merchandise Tie-In Children’s Books @CynLeitichSmith

Genres / Romance

The Structure of a Romance @woodwardkaren

Genres / Screenwriting

3 Big Query Letter Mistakes Screenwriters Make @scriptmag

Promo / Miscellaneous

Kidlit @MeetToby

Books2Read’s Universal Book Links @thDigitalReader

Street Teams @sacha_black

Promo / Blogging

3 tips for better author blogs @MarshaIngrao

7 Steps to a Successful Brand for Your Personal Blog @MarshaIngrao

Promo / Newsletters

Author Newsletters – A Spy’s Report @mollygreene

Promo / Social Media Tips

6 Visual Tools to Improve Your Social Media Content @CalebCousens

7 Social Media Tips for Indie Authors @CaballoFrances

29 Quick and Easy Social Media Updates to Share @EdieMelson

5 Ways to use Facebook Groups to Build Book Buzz @DianaUrban

Using Snapchat for Book Marketing and Author Branding @MelissaFlicks

Promo / Speaking

Why you should leave ‘holes’ in your speeches @pubcoach

Promo / Video

Tips for enhancing your video marketing @SpunkOnAStick

Publishing / Miscellaneous

2016 @JaneFriedman

Audio Books – Options, Pros, Cons, Dos, and Don’ts @TheIWSG

Connecting with Consumers, Open Road Media Grows Revenue @JaneORIM

What to expect when publishing on Amazon Kindle Store: by AC de Fombelle

Releasing a series all at once or one at a time — which is better? @HollowLandsBook

Publishing / News / International Publishing

Germany’s De Gruyter Takes Over ‘Info DaF’, Digitizing 30,00 Back Issue Pages @Porter_Anderson

International Notes @pubperspectives @Porter_Anderson

Market Overview @pubperspectives By Claudia Kaiser

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing

How to Find Your Agent Match @SusanSpann

Publishing / Options / Traditional Publishing / Querying

What to Write in the “Bio” Section of Your Query Letter @ChuckSambuchino

Publishing / Process / Book Design

DIY Book Cover Blunders: by Bruce Fottler

Formatting Tips for Your Manuscript @NanReinhardt

How to design book covers for any genre @99designs

Publishing / Process / Distribution

Expand book distribution with PublishDrive and StreetLib:

Publishing / Process / Services to Avoid

All Romance eBooks’ Sudden Closing @victoriastrauss

Writing Craft / Miscellaneous

Is Your Book a Bargain? @p2p_editor

Remove filters in your fiction @TheWriterMag

Want to Write Great Fiction? Stop Using the “Logical” Side of Your Brain. @losapala

Tips for honing your craft in 2017 @diannabooks

Incorporating a ‘blind spot’ in our fiction @KristenLambTX

Pointers for Punching Up Your Prose @LucienneDiver

Ghostwriting @KarenCV

4 Signs It’s Time To Quit A Writing Project @Magzdozza

Writing Craft / Beginnings

Elements of a Stellar Opening Scene @JohnJKelley

Writing Craft / Characters / Development

How to Deepen Your Chapter Book Characters @AliceKuipers

Writing Craft / Characters / Protagonists

7 Protagonists With Terrible Motivations @mythcreants

Writing Craft / Endings

How to Repair the End of Your Novel @JerryBJenkins

How to End a Book @nownovel

Writing Craft / Literary Devices

Fate Versus Free Will @SaraL_Writer

Writing Craft / POV

Do YOU Need To Write In The Second Person? @standoutbooks

8 Tips in Writing Deep Point of View @ZoeMMcCarthy

Picking The Perfect POV and Tense For Your Book @misfitalexa

Is The Wrong Character Telling Your Story? @ShanDitty

Writing Craft / Punctuation and Grammar

15 Military Terms Used in Civilian Contexts @writing_tips

Vocative Commas and the Vocative Case @MarcyKennedy

Writing Craft / Revision

Revision Checklist @MartinaABoone

Review Your Plot @sreynoldswriter

Rushing Through Revision @Kid_Lit

7 Misconceptions About Revision @WritersDigest

Writing Craft / Scenes

A New Way to Think About Scene Structure @KMWeiland

Writing Craft / Tension

Making It Worse for a Character @mythicscribes

Writing Craft / Tropes

Why Rowling Rocked the Briefcase Mix-up @SeptCFawkes

Writing Craft / Voice

5 Ways to Discover & Develop Our Voice @JamiGold

Writing Craft / World-Building

WorldBuilding @Wcarter01

The top writing links of last week are on Twitterific:
Click To Tweet

The post Twitterific Writing Links appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 14, 2017 21:02

January 12, 2017

Creative Challenges for Better Productivity

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

Sometimes I think that we need something to spur us on and get us going.

We need something different to help us either grow or keep ourselves engaged. Maybe we’ve been working on one book for a long period of time. Maybe we’ve been working on a particular series so long that we feel we’re getting stale. Maybe it’s that we’ve been writing a single genre.

Sometimes we’re just weighed down by our story.

For me, the best thing I can do is to shake things up a little bit.

Write at a different time of day.

Write in a different place (my favorite is the library).

Read something really good. For me, this is usually something in a genre I’m not writing. Or, maybe, I’m reading a mystery, but it’s not the same subgenre. Or I’ll read an inspiring autobiography or biography on an artist.

I subscribe to one email newsletter that sparks my creativity: Austin Kleon. He has a wide variety of artistic interests.

Challenges are another popular way for writers to get their writing done. Some of the best-known challenges are:

NaNoWriMo: I never officially enter, but I set a personal writing goal and usually meet whatever that goal is.

Camp NaNoWriMo. I think these times of year (April and July) work much better for many people (aside from perhaps parents whose kids are home from school for spring break or summer).

Prompts and Sprints

Prompts can provide a fun way to get the creative juices flowing.

The NY Times has 500 prompts for narrative and personal writing.

Creative Writing Prompts for Writers has a nice backlog of prompts.

The Write Prompts has 1900 prompts of different kinds (images, journaling prompts, poetry prompts).

Reddit also has a writing prompts section.

Writing sprints can be a helpful way of making progress on our books, especially if we are hung up by perfectionism. If we’re writing as fast as we can, our writing can’t be perfect. Sprints can help remind us that the first draft is just for getting the story down on paper. If you want to join others doing writing sprints, Twitter is a good place to do so. A post by Ramona Defelice Long recommends going as far as to keep a sprint journal.

Other ideas are to explore new genres or other subgenres.

What have I missed? Do you have ways to keep creatively challenged when writing long-term?

Creative Challenges for Better Productivity:
Click To Tweet

Photo via WerbeFabrik via Visual Hunt

The post Creative Challenges for Better Productivity appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 12, 2017 21:02

January 8, 2017

Expanding Book Distribution

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

When I wrote a post in October on growing our international reading audience, I mentioned a Facebook group called The International Indie Author, headed by writer Mark Williams. (You must ask for permission to join the group.)

Mark was kind enough to make some very thoughtful comments on the post. In those, he urged writers to consider not only going beyond KDP, Apple, etc,. but also beyond distributors like Draft2Digital or Smashwords. Among other things (like using Fiberead to reach a Chinese audience), he mentioned the importance of getting our books on Google Play (which we can’t do through D2D or Smashwords) and OverDrive (which puts our books in over 33,000 digital libraries in more than 50 countries).

Mark also stated that, unlike Smashwords, getting in OverDrive through PublishDrive or StreetLib means that our books won’t be in the separate ‘self published’ section of the site.

The following week after Mark’s comments, I made sure to upload my books to both PublishDrive and StreetLib. The process was easy; if you’re used to uploading to retailers, it won’t be difficult for you. I uploaded epub files that I’d used for other platforms, filled out all the book metadata (description, author bio, etc.), and uploaded my cover. You’ll fill in how you want to be paid and your tax information.

The royalty structure is fairly common to distributors. There are no upfront fees and the distributors are paid from your sales. More on the details here: StreetLib and PublishDrive

Then I pretty much left it alone.

Checking back in a couple of months later, I found that I did indeed have sales on both StreetLib and PublishDrive, mainly for Google Play and OverDrive. I found that I had many more Canadian sales than usual, too.

PublishDrive, in particular, has a nice bit of analytics. They told me what my best price point was ($4-$5, believe it or not. That may be because they were my most recent releases).

For a minimal investment of time on my part, I expanded my distribution and made what was actually a very tidy profit.

Are you on PublishDrive or StreetLib? Do you use distributors at all, or do you upload directly to all your platforms?

Expand book distribution with PublishDrive and StreetLib:
Click To Tweet

Photo via VisualHunt

The post Expanding Book Distribution appeared first on Elizabeth Spann Craig.

View more on Riley Adams's website »

Like • 0 comments • flag

Published on January 08, 2017 21:02